1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for destroying helicopters and more particularly to devices and methods for launching cables into the airspace around and particularly above attacking helicopters for ingestion of the cable into the helicopter rotor system; the cables being defined each for use against a specific type or make of vehicle thereby to increase their effectiveness and thus enhance the probability of kill.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Numerous patents are found in the prior art dealing with launch systems for cables, wires and the like intended to be ingested into and destroy the main rotor and/or tail rotors of a helicopter or at the minimum to disrupt controlled flight. There are multiple effects that can be produced by ingestion of a cable into the rotor system of a helicopter. The most obvious and most effective is to prevent rotation of or to produce destruction of the blades. Other highly effective results are loss of control functions due to destruction of the rotor control mechanisms or to increasing the apparent load on the main rotor which causes the destabilization of the heading control from the thrust of the tail rotor to thereby destabilize coordinated flight of the craft. It is also apparent that damage to or destruction of the tail rotor can produce disastrous results. When considering the fact that attack helicopters and personnel transport helicopters operate quite close to the ground, even a relatively temporary loss of control can produce a destructive impact with the ground. Additionally, the whipping cables will often contact personnel disembarking from the vehicles with equally destructive effects.
In my prior U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,294,157 and 4,327,644, there are described systems for launching cables and include the use of cables wound into donuts and connected to a mechanism which is picked up by a rocket or shell launched by conventional means.
The advantage to a cable system against helicopters is that an entire landing area can be blanketed with cables quickly and relatively inexpensively. Currently used helicopter defense systems attempt to strike the craft, each round being directed against a specific targeted craft. The cost of each such round is from $10,000 to $40,000 or more and such systems are not wholly effective, in fact, are relatively ineffective. On the other hand, firing of relatively inexpensive mortar rounds, rockets or artillery shells to provide a rectangular matrix of falling cables above a landing zone defines a highly efficient system of defense at costs competitive with the cost of just a few rounds of heat seeking or computer guided missiles. Launch vehicles for cables fall in the $1000 range as opposed to the $10,000 to $40,000 range for missiles and the like.
A basic problem with the cable systems proposed in the prior art is that each type of helicopter has a different air flow pattern around it and a cable that may be excellent for use against one type of craft may be quite inappropriate for another type of craft resulting in system efficiencies greatly below theoretical efficiences. Further, the method of deploying the cables as proposed in the prior art are not highly cost efficient.